


Take to The Stars

by chaoticbassist



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:48:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21757051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticbassist/pseuds/chaoticbassist
Summary: Sungjin is tasked with leading Korea's first galaxy-class starship. Younghyun is his chief engineer.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Sungjin, Kim Wonpil/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	1. Histories.

The comm feedback whistles loudly into his ear, and Younghyun winces - tries not to roll his eyes at the way the captain asks him again, for the fifth time this hour, how much longer the repairs are going to take. It’s exasperating, really, having to explain to Sungjin- The captain, he has to mentally correct himself every time - that the more he pops in like this, the longer it’s going to take.

“Jesus, Bob, let me-” He begins, only to be interrupted by the voice on the other line.

“What was that?” The captain asks, and Younghyun just knows that the elder has that victorious smirk on his face.

“Captain. I need at least another hour.” The engineer responds, and a part of him wonders if he should regret having agreed with Sungjin when he was tapped on this mission. He doesn’t; not one bit. “Just try not to call me until then, or this is just going to get delayed.”

When he finally, finally gets the engine running, he lets out a sigh of relief. Without Sungjin yapping into his ear every three seconds, he’d gotten it done in half the amount of time he thought he would, and, as if on cue, there’s the whistle of the feedback in his ear, followed by the captain’s voice.

“Commander, you are a genius.” The connection is fuzzy, but the words are there, and the engineer is grinning before he knows it.

“Wow, captain, you held yourself back for an entire thirty minutes.” He replies.

“I know the hum on a working reactor, Kang Younghyun.” 

The use of his full name makes him smile a little. 

“You sure you’re not mistaking it for the communicator feedback this sector is causing us?” The engineer chuckles as he speaks, climbing up the ladder and brushing nonexistent dust off his shoulders. He can imagine the scene on the bridge, with Jaehyung and Ahyeon biting back amused smiles, glad that the captain’s back is turned to their own respective stations. Before he could get reprimanded, though, he speaks again. “The modifications should get us through this sector within the next hour. Dowoon and I are coming up to the bridge to update the systems.”

“Glad to know you still know your way around the rest of the ship, Kang.”

“With all due respect, captain, shut up.”

Younghyun flips the switch tucked behind his ear, ending the exchange and Dowoon, his youngest engineer, gives him this horrified look as they enter the lift. 

“At ease, Ensign; the captain and I have some history.”

\--

When they arrive at the Bridge, Sungjin is quick to speak. The usual lighthearted aura about both of them growing serious as it did when it came to work. This was it; this was the reason he loved being on this ship, on this mission; the reason the two of them worked so well together. 

“Report?”

“The reactors fuses are all set and secure. Once Dowoon and I finish system updates here, we’ll be moving at twice the speed we had been moving at when we left our system.”

“Good work, Commander.”

Younghyun smiles. “Dinner later, to celebrate, sir?”

“Stop trying to romance me in front of the crew, Kang.”

It’s always been this way with them; the tone of their conversations swinging from serious to playful; even their old professors at the academy had watched them banter, commenting that they dreaded the day that they would have to work together on an actual tour.

And yet here they were, arguably the best team in the country; now in the fastest starship Korea owns.

He has to hand it to Sungjin, too though. The captain calls him a genius but the term would far better sit with the captain than it would with Younghyun. After all, the Boramae has a crew of almost five hundred, and Sungjin knows each one by name, expertise, and sometimes even credentials. They’d graduated from the academy at the same time, but somewhere along the line, Sungjin managed to make it all the way up to Captain a full year before Younghyun even got close to his current rank of commander, and on top of all that, he ‘s pretty damn good looking.

“Why would I stop if it’s obviously working?” He asks, giving a playful wink, laughter ringing in the room as he disappears behind the console.


	2. The Falcon

While every person in the academy dreams of flying past the borders of Sector 5, past their own galaxy, Younghyun finds that being able to see that dream come to life isn’t the best part about being part of the Boramae. It’s the way that Sungjin had managed to pull together a hell of a team of unlikely members that vibed absolutely perfectly with each other.

It’s a given that he and Sungjin would get along, if getting along was what you called whatever dance it was they had been doing for their entire stay at the academy. Ahyeon, too, despite the recent breakup with Younghyun, seems oddly content, watching the two of them banter from her post at the communications panel, shaking her head in amusement at the all-too-familiar sight.

The engineer finds himself constantly joking around with Jae, as well, especially when he gives Younghyun that horrified look as he takes apart the tactical console, “stabbing his screwdriver into this chip and that,” according to the Lieutenant. So when the tactical officer catches Younghyun looking at Sungjin for a bit longer than what’s considered polite, he raises an eyebrow and glances at Wonpil, who’s looming beside him, glancing curiously at the modifications that are being made.

“That look seems familiar.” Jae blurts out, his eyebrows raised as if he knew all the secrets of the universe. Beside him, Wonpil’s ears turn red, and he makes a beeline back to the helm control, hoping that no one notices. Jaehyung does, and there’s a bit of a smirk tugging at his features.  
“Yeah, it’s why I broke up with him to begin with.” Ahyeon chimes in and Younghyun looks between the two of them, the apprehension slowly settling on his features. 

“It’s nothing like that!” He retorts, voice faltering just enough for Jaehyung to break into laughter. When Sungjin glances back to check on the commotion, Younghyun looks much akin to a deer in the headlights, praying to all the gods and deities he could think of that Sungjin didn’t pick up on the rest of the conversation.

He raises a hand to wave the other off in dismissal trying to convince the captain that it wasn’t important, to which the elder male simply tilts his head to the side in curiosity. In response, Younghyun tilts his own head and Sungjin just smiles and shakes his head, the entire exchange happening in front of Jae and Ahyeon’s scrutinizing eyes. 

Once Sungjin turns back to the screen, the tactical officer leans in to whisper into Younghyun’s ear, interrupting the engineer’s relieved sigh. 

“It’s definitely like that.”

Younghyun has to pretend not to be frazzled by the whole concept of it all, as if all the bantering and the play-flirting that they've done for years now has been given a whole new definition. When Ahyeon broke up with him, she’d said that “your interests lie elsewhere,” and for the most part, he assumed that she meant his career as an engineer. Now, though he isn’t so sure anymore. 

It’s hours later, when he’s sitting in the mess hall with Ahyeon and Jimin that he manages to actually ask; the thought eating away at his mind enough to, for the first time since the academy, be too distracted to develop more modifications. 

“Ahyeon, on the bridge, did you mean that?”

Jimin shoots the two of them a weird glance, an eyebrow raised. “What, I actually do my job in sick bay for once and that’s when some weird development occurs between you two again?” 

“Jaehyung caught Bri staring at Bob and obviously, would not let him live it down.”   
“But he’s always staring at the captain.”  
“I am?”


	3. Catharsis

Sungjin hasn’t seen Younghyun in days. 

Even when he makes his way into engineering, it’s always Dowoon that’s there to report on the status of the repairs-- honestly, with how he’s managing to hold up despite how ruthless Younghyun is with the intricacies of the engines, the boy deserves a promotion. 

“Where has the Commander run off to this time?” He asks, forehead creased in a frown as he peers curiously around the workstations in search of Younghyun.  
“He’s out of engineering the whole week, running maintenance all over the ship. Would you like to speak to him?” He asks.

He would. 

“It’s alright, thank you.” The captain smiles and Dowoon lifts his hand in a little salute in response, not noticing the disappointment in the older male’s voice.

It isn’t until days later, at a core staff meeting that Sungjin sees Younghyun again, and for the first time, their conversation doesn’t start with playful banter. In fact, it doesn’t start at all, not until everyone else has left the room and Younghyun is playing with the buttons on his hand scanner.

“You okay?”   
“Huh?” Younghyun looks up, eyes wide with surprise when he notices that everyone has left the room, the realization causing a bit more panic than it should. “Oh, yeah.”  
“Nah.”

Younghyun stares at Sungjin, who’s circling the table to come closer to him, and this time, the engineer actually catches himself, but he can’t seem to find it in him to look away. 

The captain’s expression grows troubled, and he reaches to ruffle the younger’s hair. For a moment, Younghyun feels like a kid again; the same one that stayed over at Sungjin’s place for days because his parents couldn’t accept the fact that he wanted to go to the academy; the same one that climbed into Sungjin’s bed and just curled up because he didn’t know what to do anymore — because he just wanted to be somewhere he feels safe. 

Resolve falters quickly and Younghyun finds himself leaning into the touch.

“Let’s try that again.” Sungjin says, all the authority from being the captain melting away as the staff leaves the room. “You okay?”

Younghyun plays with the thought in his head; wonders if he is okay — if he understood any of the things that Jaehyung or Jimin had mentioned. Alternatively, Sungjin wonders if he’s done anything to warrant the walls that the engineer seems to have built between the two of them; he wonders if the wall had been there for a long time now and if he just hadn’t noticed.

They haven’t been able to talk since the ship left Earth, he realises. Sure, there were the little moments when they were left alone together, but their guards were never down long enough for Sungjin to stop being a captain and Younghyun to stop being the chief engineer. Ever since they left Earth, it’s been reports and core dinners and playful banter in front of the staff. Ever since they left Earth, they’ve been working.

The look Younghyun gives Sungjin is one that the elder male hadn’t seen since freshman year at the academy. His heart sinks as soon as their eyes meet and suddenly he’s Younghyun’s older brother again, arms wrapping around him protectively, the younger male shaking and clinging to his uniform like it’s his only lifeline. It’s warm and familiar and Younghyun realises that Sungjin smells the same as he did years and years ago.

It’s warm and familiar and yet, Younghyun realises it’s so, so different now.

He’ll never admit to it, but his heart races. 

He’s about to peer up at Sungjin when alarms blare on the ship. Just like that, the moment is gone. Sungjin is the captain again, rushing out of the room and back onto the bridge. Younghyun is behind him as the ship shakes with enemy fire.

“I’ll be in engineering. Dowoon hasn’t been briefed on the new weapons systems.”  
“We’re counting on you, Commander.” Sungjin says, giving the other male a small nod. We’ll talk later, he wants to say. But in that moment, he’s a captain and Younghyun is his engineer and in that moment, that is what they need to be. 

Sungjin wonders if he broke down the wall a little or if he just added another row of bricks to it.


	4. Fighters

The lights on the entire ship flicker once and then they dim. Everyone holds onto their consoles a little tighter as the ship takes another hit, and Ahyeon is knocked off her feet. The enemy -- of unknown origin, with a ship configuration nowhere near anything that they’ve seen before -- isn’t responding to any calls, any language she knows and she looks to the captain, worry evident on her features. Younghyun and Sungjin haven’t been okay, and she knows they could set that aside for something like this, but she wasn’t sure how well the two were going to fare after the meeting; after whatever private discussion had gone on in the room once they all left. 

“Commander, report.”

Sungjin is screaming into his communicator and he’s not sure that the message even reached engineering. It was the was the worst time for the comms to completely fail, but that was exactly why he was convinced that it had actually happened. Nothing had gone well since they entered this sector. He’s about to send someone out to check when he hears the familiar buzzing, followed by Younghyun’s voice.

“Major damages to the communications systems, sir, but I managed to reroute enough power for it to work for the core members.” The captain smiles, and he has to turn around to hide how proud he is of the younger male. “There’s a major hit on our power distribution lines, so most of the things we’ll have to do manually. I’ve routed all I have to life support and tactical. Jaehyung will have full control over his systems, but Wonpil will have to do with old fashioned manual steering. It’s the best I can do, sorr-”

“Wonpil?” Sungjin’s voice interrupts the engineer, and he drops the call, the matter too urgent for sentimentalities. 

Jaehyun is smirking, his hand already on the console, and he doesn’t even look up to check on the other male. “We’ve got this. Thanks, Commander.”

Sungjin nods his head at Ahyeon and she smiles knowingly mouthing a soft “Go.” to the captain. 

At Navigation, Wonpil’s heart is racing, palms sweaty around the wheel that felt both familiar and new at the same time. This was the largest ship he had ever manually piloted, but the adrenaline was borderline overwhelming, and it was his first chance to show off how he worked with Jaehyung. 

The ship shakes one more time and Ahyeon announces the shields are down and that life support is the next to go if anything else hits them. Then, momentarily, Wonpil glances back at Jae, who gives him a little tip of an imaginary hat and they’re off. Ahyeon watches as the navigator barks out coordinates and Jaehyung is quick to enter them into his own console. The ship stops shaking; enemy weapons systems are down, and at this point, even Wonpil is smirking. This was the kind of thing he became a navigator for; the sort of thing he became Jaehyung’s navigator for. The enemies retreat, and Ahyeon gives the order not to pursue, considering damages. 

It’s sixteen minutes, but it feels like hours. The lights flicker again, but this time, they return with full brightness. There’s a sense of relief that drops in the bridge, and everyone is getting up to pat Wonpil and Jaehyung’s shoulders, in awe at the teamwork and actual skill that it took to pull off the maneuvers that the two just did. Jaehyung grins, leaves his console to make his way to Wonpil’s side to kiss his temple. “God I missed doing that.” 

Wonpil smiles, and it’s the first time he’s done it in front of the crew, but he turns his head to press his lips against Jaehyung’s own. “Kim Wonpil, the things you make me feel.” the tactical officer announces all too loudly, laughing, and the rest of the crew’s own rings in response. 

That’s the thing about these two -- things came naturally to them. The way Jaehyung teased Wonpil; the way Wonpil would surprise Jaehyung with little actions here and there. They didn’t even have to tell Sungjin that they were dating-- he just took one look at the two of them walking into the room for their first briefing and told them not to let anything get in the way of the work they have to do. They smiled and nodded, hands reaching for each others because they knew it wouldn’t happen. This was what they were born to do. They were meant to be the Boramae’s fighters.


	5. Clockwork

Park Sungjin has always been Younghyun’s goal -- the person he wanted to please; the person he wanted to make proud, but Park Sungjin has always been the one that Younghyun would show his flaws to; his weaknesses. So when now, in a situation like this where the ship, Park Sungjin’s ship, the Bormae, was in danger of crashing, it was nothing but frustrating for Younghyun to take so long to fix, even just the comms systems.

To him, it comes in as static, but he’s working the monitors and he knows that the signal is from the captain. He can imagine it already, how the Captain takes charge immediately as the people on the bridge start to panic. It was the first to feel a loss of power, after all; the first place the warnings would go off, after being displayed on the main engineering screen, so he reports.

“Major damages to the communications systems, sir, but I managed to reroute enough power for it to work for the core members.” His heart sinks because this is the first time he’s had to report something negative to the captain since they left port “There’s a major hit on our power distribution lines, so most of the things we’ll have to do manually. I’ve routed all I have to life support and tactical. Jaehyung will have full control over his systems, but Wonpil will have to do with old fashioned manual steering. It’s the best I can do, sorr-”

He’s interrupted by static, and the call displays as nonexistent on his screens. Sungjin dropped the communication line on him and he couldn’t feel any worse at this point. He tosses his wrench out of the hatch and hears Dowoon yelp before he realises that the ship is shaking again. The shields are left at fifteen percent and life support is in danger of failing one hit after the shields go out. The enemy was aiming for that, after all. Anyone could tell that it was shoot to kill, and with the spaces between attacks, they were charging up to full efficiency.

“Dowoon, concentrate the shields on the life support distribution.” He orders, and he climbs out of the hatch into another catwalk to work on managing the power distribution. At this point, they couldn’t afford to lose power to the tactical panels any more than they already have, and he had to make sure navigation remained stable, even through another hit.

As if on que, the attack comes, and to Younghyun, the way the ship shakes feels like failure, accentuated by the alarms that informed him that shields were gone and another hit could mean the loss of the Boramae in general. 

As if on cue, the attack comes and Sungjin bursts into engineering, running into the catwalk with Dowoon’s tools to help Younghyun.

“Aheyon has it handled in the bridge. How can I help?”  
“Captain.”  
“I was only second to you in engineering, Kang.”

He can physically feel the way that the breath is knocked out of his chest at the way the captain is smiling at him from the other side of the catwalk and he nods. “The goal is to get power distribution back so I can even begin to work repairs on everything else, but it’s tricky, with the makeshift configuration I had to do to keep life support and Jaehyung’s console up.” 

Sungjin pulls himself up to the engineer’s side of the panel and starts to work, the commander doing the same beside him. For a while, Younghyun had forgotten how amazing Sungjin was, even at this. For a moment, he had forgotten how well he had always worked with the older male and the way the backs of their hands brush as they reconfigure the entire power system on the ship suddenly has Younghyun feeling a certain kind of way. 

“Don’t worry about them.” the captain reassures Younghyun, because he sees the way that the younger male tries to carry the weight of this entire attack on his shoulders. “Wonpil and Jaehyung are the best at this kind of thing, when they’re together.”

It’s only then that he notices that the ship hasn’t shaken since the shields had failed.


	6. Reactions

The catwalk is silent, for the most part, save for the clanging of tools against the metal floor and the occasional instruction of the engineer. It’s hot and humid, with the air conditioning down and the materials of their uniforms sticking to their skin, but Younghyun is accustomed to these conditions— he might even say he loved them. Sungjin makes his way to the other side of the panel, checking on certain values, and Younghyun looks up at him, smiling. 

“Never thought I’d see you anywhere near these consoles again.”  
“Maybe you wouldn’t have, if you did your job.”

The words are said jokingly, Younghyun knows. Sungjin himself had muttered them without thinking, but regretted then immediately, but he couldn’t take them back; not anymore. He can physically feel the other’s heart sink and he hates it.

His thoughts—and his regret— are interrupted when they hear cheering from outside, and Sungjin knows it’s because Wonpil and Jaehyung have won, so as he turns the last screw and Younghyun flicks the switch to get the power running, there’s a sense of pride in his team; his crew; in Younghyun.

The engineer wipes the sweat off his forehead, and he grabs his water bottle from the side, offering it to the captain with a weird mix of sadness and fondness. It had been so long since they worked together like this; so long since they’d done something as equals. “Thanks for the help, Cap.” 

Sungjin’s expression softens, as he takes a sip of the drink, his body slumping against one of the walls of the catwalk, then sliding down so he’s seated on the floor, his legs stretched out in front of him, bottle set down on the floor as well. 

“Just Sungjin, for now.” He says, patting the space beside him. There was no one else there and god knows they both needed this. 

Younghyun isn’t sure what to do with the statement, so he tosses it around in his head for a moment as he slides down beside the captain. “Thanks for the help, Sungjin.” He says, correcting himself after a moment. It’s been months and he realises how unfamiliar the flavor of that name on his tongue is. How long has it been?

He’s still lost in thought when he feels an arm around his waist, and the slight tug that comes with the elder male pulling him closer. Out of purely muscle memory, his head falls onto Sungjin’s shoulder and his body relaxes into the warmth that is the older male. The captain isn’t looking at him, but his cheek is rested against the top of Younghyun’s head.

“You did well today.” The other whispers the words into the catwalk as if he knew Younghyun needed them and immediately, his disappointment in himself melts away.

The catwalk is silent for a moment after that, and Sungjin feels the younger male tensing and relaxing few times before finally settling on relaxed, a single word leaving his lips. “Thanks.” In that moment, Younghyun makes the motions to leave and get back to repairs, but Sungjin holds him in place, eyes almost pleading as he looks at the engineer— at Younghyun. 

He could never resist that look; not at the academy and especially not now, so he settles down again, and this time, his own arm wraps around Sungjin’s torso, playing with the hem of his uniform absently. He hears Ayheon and Jimin and Jaehyung’s words in his head a moment, stealing glances at the older male, his gaze naturally pulled to the other’s lips, and when he notices that, he looks away, busying himself with the glowing lights on the panel in front of him.

He’s occupied with the indicator for the power supply when he feels Sungjin shift beside him. He tries to focus on the blinking green, counting the moments in each interval, then, there are lips on his own, soft and warm. 

Younghyun is unable to respond, surprise taking over him faster than the realization that someone he had been pining for for the longest time was finally kissing him. It seems like forever, and he doesn’t know how to react so he just sits there until Sungjin pulls back.

He hears the other male clear his throat, mumble the semblance of an apology before standing up. 

Younghyun’s hand reaches out and clasps around Sungjin’s wrist just as the other is about to leave. He can’t bring himself to look -- all his resolve would immediately melt away the moment their eyes met and he didn’t want that, not yet. He feels his heart hammering in his chest and wonders if Sungjin’s own is doing the same acrobatic routine that his seems to be doing; he wonders if the butterflies in his stomach are in on it, flying circles around the space in time with the thrumming above them.

Then, the captain’s hand is on his elbow, pulling him up.

Then, his back is against the wall again.

Then, their lips meet again, and this time, Younghyun has the sense to respond. This time, his fingers curl against the fabric of the captain’s uniform. This time, he pulls Sungjin closer and tells himself that this was one dream he wouldn’t be able to let go of.


End file.
